So here's the kind of insanity that has gripped much of America right now. As a preface, I'm not going to pretend to know what the right policy answers are in this situation - there are clearly competing interests and priorities. I'm not going to argue with people over views of personal liberties versus common safety. But I will point out where I think someone is making a premise or relying on data that is objectively inaccurate. Numbers are numbers, methods are methods . . . these things, I think are much closer to being objective truths and not subjective interpretations. In other words, I don't care what people ultimately choose, but if they're basing their view on an inaccuracy, that bears pointing out. I don't ever suggest a course of action, only point out the flaw in the piece of information (and provide citation to why it is inaccurate).
What's really frustrating is how some people react to it. Example: yesterday a Facebook friend posted a screenshot purportedly from some surgeon (actual name or hospital affiliation not included in the screen shot) that said that the size of the coronavirus is between .006 and .14 microns . . . which is far smaller than can be filtered out by most medical grade masks, and certainly not standard N-95s (>.3 microns) or earloop masks . . . and cloth face coverings are worthless.
So I replied, "Actual medical research has found the size of the aerosolized particles (the virus gets in the air by attaching to respiratory droplets) to be between .25 microns and 2.5 microns). " And I posted the medical paper i was referring to (but there are others with similar findings). That was it - that was the post . . . I made no effort beyond that.
The response? Bwaaaahaaaa!! That paper you posted is from Wuhan! Come on man.
Nevermind that it's a proper medical research paper that has been published and has also since been cited in the work of western (and US) researchers. Nevermind that the team of authors are all research physicians with extensive publication in their bios. It's from Wuhan and is therefore instantly dismissible. The same people who are now acting like the critical-review dissertation panel were, moments ago, entirely carefree about accepting the claims in an unattributed Facebook post screenshot.
That sheet is maddening.